Team ORGANIZATION & HIRING Pearls

Are you noticing a recent disturbing drop in your Production/Collections/Net? Are you in a conundrum about accepting patient insurance in general? Do you feel a need to accept other types of insurance to maintain your practice? Are you perplexed about how that may affect your practice? If so, maybe this pearl can help you make the best decisions. The orthodontic economy, trying to recover form the 2008 depression,…

Is your practice productive and are your team members busy? Do you know how to keep them busy when the doctor is not in the office? Do you have a contingency plan for when you will be out of the office for an extended period of time? If so, this management pearl may help. Running a successful practice is not easy, especially when it comes to keeping your…

Are you looking for a new partner or associate? Do you typically teach other orthodontists in your practice? Do you feel a need to protect your practice from your own employees? If so, maybe this pearl can help you avoid embarrassment or legal problems. Many orthodontists are beginning to realize that there are people out there who are not very nice, and through ignorance or intent to do…

Do you have a current Office Policies Manual? Is it fair to your team? Does it protect the practice from staff abuse? Maybe this pearl can help you answer these questions. It may seem strange, but many practices don’t have an office policies manual at all, much less a current one…not a good idea! Most office policies are created when something goes wrong and the practice doesn’t want it…

Do you have team members that need to be replaced? Do you find it difficult to replace them? Do you know how to replace them? Maybe this pearl can help. WHY replace a team member: They are disruptive, reducing team morale and possibly running off patients They can’t do all of the procedures in their position and can’t or don’t want to learn They are no longer needed…

Do you know what makes a team leader? Do you have leaders on your team? Do you want team leaders on your team? Maybe this pearl can help. A team is “a group of independent people working interdependently for the good of the patients”. There are three types of team members…not all are team leader material: Independent team members take responsibility for their successes and do whatever it takes…

Do you know each of your team member's daily responsibilities? Do each of your team members know what they are responsible for daily? Does your team manage itself—not requiring you to make their daily decisions for them? If your answers are all "yes"—great—if not, this pearl may help. Whether you realize it or not, "automatic practice management" is what most practices desire. It means that a practice can run itself,…

Do you allow “final” applicants to do position work to “see what they can do”? Do you expose “final” applicants to bloodborne pathogens? If so, you are opening yourself up to a possible law suit or legal action! This pearl can help you avoid that. When getting down to the final one or two applicants in the hiring process it is valuable to have the applicant go to lunch…

Are certain staff members destroying your team morale? Does this low morale still exist even when you get rid of them? If so, your practice is suffering from a dismorale virus that this management pearl can help vaccinate you against it. A practice is made up of its doctors and staff, who act as a team for the good of the patients and practice. But, you need to be…

Have you heard of other doctor’s staff members embezzling? Are you sure that your practice is safe from embezzlers? This Management Pearl can help you evaluate your practice and put your mind at ease. This pearl provides a painless vaccine for what seems to be an epidemic: embezzlement of funds in orthodontic practices, even with computerized financial control. It is difficult to determine the full extent of embezzling, since…

Do you have problems negotiating salaries? Does your team get upset when new staff make more than they do. It can all be resolved with one simple approach. Once you decide you really want that person, the next step is to negotiate her salary and benefits. Everybody has a minimal salary they won’t go below—but if it’s higher than you are willing to pay—it doesn’t mean that you can’t…

Latest Management Pearl

Are you noticing a downturn in exams/starts? Is it because your referring dentists are retiring? Is it because you are not putting on an impressive exam? Are local dentists doing a lot of orthodontics (braces or aligners) at a much lower fee? If so, maybe this pearl can help you maintain/build your practice. If you have a mature practice (>30 years) you may be seeing a drop in referrals…